Can Stoke make the jump into the top half of the table with a win over Brighton at 8pm on Sky Sports?

Both sides have acquitted themselves fairly well this season, especially Premier League-debutantes Brighton. After 11 games they’re in 9th place, and can leapfrog Watford and take 8th with a win on Monday night. Granted, the Seagulls have had a relatively kind fixtures list – they’ve only faced Man City and Arsenal out of the current top 6, losing to both, while games against Everton, Southampton (a pair of 1-1 draws) and West Ham (a confident 3-0 win) looked trickier on paper than they were in reality.



Things get far more difficult in the next few weeks, however. Before the year is over Brighton will play Man United, Liverpool, Tottenham and Chelsea, alongside the over-performing likes of Watford and Burnley. Monday’s game, then, arguably provides the Seagulls with their best hope for 3 points – well, excusing a visit from Crystal Palace at the end of November – for the foreseeable future.

Though, to be far, that might be a bit harsh on Stoke. They’re only 3 points behind Brighton despite being 6 places lower, and that’s after facing Arsenal, Man United, Chelsea and Man City (in fact, the Potters acquitted themselves well in those first 2 fixtures, beating the Gunners while drawing against United).

Stoke’s cause would be greatly aided if Saido Berahino would just bloody score. The 24-year old hasn’t found the back of the net in 632 days, a period that encompasses the entire time he has been a Potter (since January 2017). Berahino goes into Monday night at a decent Super Mega PGM of 16-20, ahead of teams Jese (at 13-17) and Peter Crouch (at 14-18), but behind Brighton’s Glenn Murray and Tomer Hemed, at 28-34 and 25-30 respectively.

The hosts have just about been the better side this season, in part because Mark Hughes’ side have one of the worst defences in the league, leading Spreadex to offer a Brighton/Stoke Goal Supremacy spread of 0.15-0.35 alongside a Total Goals spread of 2.1-2.3.